Station hotel plan

FREMANTLE developer Gerard O’Brien has submitted plans for a six-storey hotel and bar at the old Fremantle police station.

Mr O’Brien’s company Silverleaf bought the 100-year-old station on Henderson Street from the state government last year, plus several of the neighbouring warders cottages.

Mr O’Brien previously told the Herald he valued the heritage of the complex, which was closed because of asbestos concerns, but Fremantle Society president John Dowson hasn’t been impressed after a quick glance at the proposal.

“The plans … seem at first glance to be remarkably insensitive to what is a dignified and important set of colonial buildings, some (the terrace houses) being of national significance,” Mr Dowson said.

He caution’s the station’s in the buffer zone of the world heritage-listed prison and any development mustn’t be allowed to impact negatively on its setting.